Are You Sitting Down? Why a Stand-Up Desk Might Save Your Life [PICS]

At least, that’s the gist of a few articles that have made the rounds recently. A particularly popular article in Men’s Health cited a study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise that will make any desk jockey wince. Examining the lifestyles of more than 17,000 men and women over 13 years, the report found those who sit for most of the day were 54% more likely to die of heart attacks. According to Men's Health, that statistic was true even if the people in the study were nonsmokers and regular exercisers.

Another report cited in a recent New York Times Magazinestory tracked 123,000 Americans and found the death rate for those who spent six or more hours a day sitting was 20% higher than for men who sat for three hours or less. For women, the difference was 40%. No one's really sure exactly why that's the case. You certainly burn fewer calories sitting than you do standing and moving around, but weight gain isn't necessarily the primary reason that sitting is so bad for you.

If you’re like me, you’ve read those articles and wondered, “OK, what’s the alternative?” Aside from switching occupations (maybe it's time to brush up on those dormant lumberjacking skills), your best bet might be a standup desk. Right now, such desks are tiny niche in the market, but, thanks to those recent articles, things are picking up.

Jim Gattuso, who owns the domain name standupdesks.com, says that traffic to his site has quadrupled in recent weeks. Up until now, though, he had done a pretty good business, mostly for people with back problems. Gattuso started his business about 17 years ago when he was suffering from back pain and was looking for a standup desk. He couldn’t find one, so he contracted with a furniture maker in Ohio’s Amish country. The furniture maker was willing to make a desk, but he had one stipulation: “If I wanted him to build me one, I’d have to have at least three pieces made.” Gattuso kept two for himself and then decided to try to sell the other one on the Internet. It sold so fast that he realized there was a market for such things.

The cult of standup desks may be small, but proponents are vocal. Donald Rumsfeld is said to be a fan as is writer Philip Roth. Rob Schwartz, chief creative officer of ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, got a standup desk seven years ago because he heard Ernest Hemingway used one. “I figured, he’s a pretty good writer, so maybe I could use one, too,” Schwartz says. Physical issues didn’t play a role in Schwartz’s decision — he doesn’t have a bad back and isn’t worried that sitting all day will cause him to have a heart attack. “You get more done when you’re standing up,” Schwartz says. “When you’re sitting, you’re naturally recessive, you’re receiving, when you’re standing, you’re ready to do something ... I don’t know. I used to be a bartender, so maybe that has something to do with it.”

Jon Paulsen, CEO of The Human Solution, which sells ergonomic office furniture, says that, despite the hype, a sit-down desk won’t kill you. “[Sitting is] not necessarily a bad thing, but doing anything for eight hours a day is bad,” he says. Paulsen, a certified ergonomist, recommends an electronic retractable desk, which can help you easily go from a sitting to a standing position. Desks with adjustable cranks provide too much of a barrier to going back and forth, he says. The important thing is to vary your routine. “It’s a great way to change your posture up,” he says. “As people get older, they find more benefits to moving around during the day.”

Such solutions don’t come cheaply. An electronic retractable desk will run you $1,000 to $2,000, but Paulsen says you can get “a real nice one” for $1,100 to $1,200. What if that’s out of your reach at the moment? Paulsen says make a point of getting up every half hour or so and walk around. “It’s good to take microbreaks,” he says. Such advice may be hard to follow, but, as any stand-up desk evangelist will attest, it's better to look weird than to die young.

For a look at some standup desks, click on the gallery below.

Stand-Up Desks

Rob Schwartz's office, replete with stand-up desk.

The chief creative officer of TBWAChiatDay in Los Angeles was influenced by Ernest Hemingway's fondness for stand-up desks.

A stand-up desk in action.

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